Education Doctoral Student Jeromie Whalen Leads Team in Publishing Study on ChatGPT in K-12 Schools

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Jeromie Whalen, a doctoral student in the College of Education’s Mathematics, Science and Learning Technologies (MSLT) Program, along with fellow MSLT doctoral student Chenyang Xu, North Dakota State University graduate student William Grube, and Torrey Trust, professor of education and Whalen’s doctoral advisor, have published an article based on their preliminary study of U.S. K-12 teachers’ initial perceptions of – and responses to – students’ use and misuse of generative AI (GenAI) and ChatGPT during the 2022-23 school year.

A survey, a summary of the study and visual promotional materials created by the Whalen’s team were disseminated across social media platforms, public and private online communities and an email listserv by the researchers, and the team ultimately collected data from 123 K-12 educators between August and September of 2023.

The survey found limited use of AI among educators and that they have a limited grasp of whether students use GenAI and how it is used. Only 20% of the respondents reported finding it easy or very easy to detect AI-generated student work without using detection tools, and the article examines how the educators responded to and punished students who used programs like ChatGPT for their assignments.

The full article, “K-12 Educators’ Reactions and Responses to ChatGPT and GenAI During the 2022–2023 School Year,” is accessible to UMass faculty members and staff using their university logins on the website of the journal Tech Trends.